Critics of Kan. Common Core Standards Blast Testing

Common Core educational standards were once again a topic at Tuesday’s meeting of the Kansas State Board of Education.

Opponents are targeting the standardized tests used in meeting Common Core Requirements.

Megan King is a parent from Lawrence. She said the costs of the tests will be too high and will require technology updates. King wants the state to keep using tests developed by the University of Kansas.

“Keeping our assessments local will allow local school boards to put that money back into the classroom, instead of expanding their bandwidth and upgrading technologies,” said King.

The new standards would include online tests. But Kansas Education Commissioner Diane DeBacker says some assessments are already given on computers, so schools have most of the technology in place. She says technology surveys of schools in Kansas show it won't take a large amount of upgrades to be ready.

“Our schools were way above other states in terms of saying they had the capacity to do it,” said DeBacker.

Board members say that a decision on testing won't be made until later this year and tests provided by the University of Kansas could still be an option.